Lisa Mayfield: Jeremy used meth

Lisa Mayfield, stepmother of suspended Sprint Cup driver Jeremy Mayfield, says she saw Mayfield use methamphetamine on at least 30 occasions dating to 1998, including once before a race in 1999, according to an affidavit that accompanied a NASCAR filing in federal court Wednesday.

NASCAR asserted in its filing that Mayfield had failed a second drug test, which also produced a positive indication for methamphetamine, and asked the court to reinstate the indefinite suspension imposed on Mayfield on May 9 after a positive drug test administered eight days earlier at Richmond International Raceway.

In an interview with Bob Pockrass of SceneDaily.com, Mayfield attorney John Buric said Mayfield had taken a separate test within an hour of the test NASCAR cited in its motion and that the separate test was negative for methamphetamine.

Mayfield did not return a call from Sporting News requesting a comment on the drug test and Lisa Mayfield's affidavit, in which she stated she had seen Mayfield take meth over a seven-year period, starting in 1998.

"I am giving this affidavit concerning my personal knowledge of Jeremy's use of methamphetamine," Lisa Mayfield said in her affidavit. "I first saw Jeremy using methamphetamine in 1998 at his shop on Jackson Road in Mooresville, North Carolina.

"Jeremy cooked some of his own methamphetamine in his shop by the house until the stores took pseudoephedrine (an ingredient in the production of meth) off the shelves. In addition to making amphetamine for his own use, I am aware that Jeremy has bought methamphetamine from others."

About Lisa Mayfield's assertions, Buric told SceneDaily.com, "We'll respond to this; we're not worried about it. Lisa Mayfield has her own issues."

Buric said the separate test that came back negative was analysed by drug-screening laboratory LabCorp.

NASCAR, on the other hand, says its test, conducted by Aegis Laboratories of a urine sample taken from Mayfield on July 6, approximately one hour before the sample tested by LabCorp, reproduced the finding of methamphetamine and excluded the possibility that the positive test had resulted from a combination of prescription Adderall and over-the-counter Claritin-D, as Mayfield has claimed.

NASCAR is asking Judge Graham Mullen to vacate the injunction he granted to Mayfield on July 1 (and followed with a July 7 written order), in effect lifting the suspension that had kept Mayfield away from the racetrack for seven weeks. Even though Mayfield won the right to compete in recent races at Daytona and Chicagoland, he chose not to appear at either racetrack.

"Because Mr. Mayfield's repeated and confirmed use of methamphetamine violates NASCAR's substance abuse policy, and because NASCAR must be permitted to protect the safety of its drivers, crews, and fans, as well as the integrity of the sport, Defendants respectfully request that the Court immediately vacate its July 7, 2009, order and reinstate NASCAR's suspension of Mr. Mayfield," the sanctioning body wrote in its motion.

by Reid Spencer/Sporting News